The Path of twilight
by the red 1
Summary: Xover with One Piece. Seven years after leaving his old life behind, Riku finds himself, after a rather odd set of events, joining up with a certan straw hat wearing pirate named Luffy D. Monkey.
1. Chapter 1

The path of twilight

Chapter 1

Prolog

(This is a continuation to my one-shot story Twilight. Or something like that. See, I'm saying this happened after Twilight, because I really liked the way that turned out, and I needed an excuse for Riku to have left Destiny Island with out Sora or Kairi knowing about it.

So, this story will be a crossover with the anime One Piece. After all, if Riku needs to learn all new, kick all sorts of butt, fighting styles/attacks, why not in the One Piece world? All right, so the story starts about seven years after kingdom hearts 2. ((For those of you who need to know: I trying to do this more anime-ish, so I'm going to reveal what's happened to Riku since he left Destiny Island later in the story.)) As for the One Piece timeline, lets say this chapter happens before Luffy and co. met Sanji.)

START

_Wealth, fame, power. The man that had everything in the world, Gold Roger; the Pirate King. Before being executed by the Marines, Gold Roger said something that would send people to sea for years to come. "My treasure? If you want it, I'll let you have it; I left it all at that place."_

_Seeking their dreams, men and women alike now set out to sea, heading to the Grand Line in hopes of finding the legendary treasure: One Piece._

0-0-0

The sea was could be a very quite place. A young man was finding that out the hard way. The man was in his late teens, around seventeen years old. He had somewhat pale skin. Dressed in a light red tank top, and a pair of black shorts, the young man didn't really look that threatening. In fact, with that straw hat he was wearing, and the pair of sandals he had on his feet, he looked rather harmless. One thing that would catch your eye was the fact he had a scar under his left eye, running horizontal about five inches. However, the scar really didn't change the somewhat innocent look the teen had, with his slightly shaggy hair black hanging down in his eyes, which were also black.

"I'm soooooooo board!" The teen said as he feel back onto the wooden plank, the deck of a ship. "I just wish we could get some wind blowing soon. We have to get to the Grand Line." The teen said in a slightly winy voice. As he stared up at the sky, wishfully take a glance at the sail behind him, hoping to see it move at lest a little. "You do know that staring at the sail won't make the wind blow, right Luffy?" Came a female voice from the side of the straw hat wearing teen, Luffy.

Turning his head slightly, Luffy could see a female around the age of eighteen standing there. She had a fairly normal height, standing maybe 5'6/5'7. The girl had light orange hair that was kept rather short, but the bangs were still long enough to fall into her eyes. The girl was wearing a light blue shirt, with a white stripe running across her midriff, and a light yellow short skirt. "Aw come on Nami! I'm sure that the wind will blow soon." Another, slightly higher pitched voice came from behind Luffy and the girl, now known as Nami.

Another boy around seventeen could be seen standing there. This boy was taller then the Luffy or Nami, standing maybe 5'11. He had dark skin, and black curly hair that fell down covering his neck. On his head was a light green hat that, if you looked at it from the right angle, looked like a military helmet. The boy was wearing a pair of dark brown overalls, and a pair of black combat boots. Another thing that stood out was a large bag hanging from the boy's side. Finally, the thing that stood out most out the boy was the fact that his nose was almost six inches long.

"Usopp's right Nami; if we wait a little longer I'm sure that the wind will pick up again." Luffy said, glancing between the long nose boy, also know as Usopp, and Nami. "Hey Zoro what do you think? Zoro? HEY ZORO!" Luffy yelled, looking farther back on the ship at the fourth, and final person on the ship.

Lying on the deck of the ship farther back, there was another male in his late teens, most likely around nineteen. He had light green hair that was cut short, and you couldn't see his eyes due to the fact he was sleeping at the moment. On his left ear there were three earrings that looked like small gold bars, hanging right next to each other. The man was wearing a plan white t-shirt, a pair of black pants, and a pair of black boots. Also, there was a black headband tied around his left arm. The thing that stood out about this man was the fact that he had three katana's hanging from is right hip; two in black sheathes and on in a white.

"Don't waste your breath Luffy; once Zoro goes to sleep, it would take a cannon blast to wake him up." Nami said, looking at the green haired teen sleeping. Hearing what Nami said, Luffy's eyes lit up, and a smile broke out on his face. "Well, we _do_ have a couple cannon's on this ship, why not wake Zoro up with one of them?" Luffy said with a huge grin.

"If you do that, Zoro will most likely stab you with one of his katana's." Usopp said, shaking his head slightly at Luffy's idea. "Why do boys always want to shot something?" Nami muttered to herself, looking at Luffy. "Anyway, why don't you two try and make yourselves useful…or at lest try not to break anything." Nami said as she walked over to a beach chair set up on the ships deck, and sat down in it.

0-0-0

About four miles from where Luffy's ship was sitting in the water, there was a small island. The island wasn't really that big, and was mostly covered in trees and other vegetation. At the beach, there was a small dock, used mostly for fishing ships to dock. However, currently a different, much bigger ship was docked there.

The ship was a frigate, towering over most of the dock. This frigate had been painted a jet black, giving it a very ominous appearance. Along both sides of the ship, around twenty cannons were on each side, as well as eight cannons at the back and front of the ship. Painted on the sail, as well as on a couple smaller flags, there was a symbol of a skull and crossbones, only it was covered by a black, ninja style facemask, leaving only the eyes and swords visible.

If Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp weren't careful, they would run into a large group of pirates on the island…

0-0-0

"Yahoo! We're moving now!" Luffy yelled as he looked out at the sea ahead of them. After waiting for about thirty minutes, the wind had finally picked up again, causing the ship they had to begin moving once more. As Luffy stared out at the sea ahead of them, Usopp had climbed to the look out post atop the main sail, looking at the sea through a periscope.

"Hey guys! It looks like there's an island up ahead!" Usopp called down from his position. This cause Nami to look up from the magazine she was reading, before quickly setting the magazine down and standing up. "Hm, the only island around here should be a small island called Sun Set Island." Nami said as she looked out ahead of the ship at the landmass beginning to form in the distance.

"Hey, what's all the noise for?" Zoro asked as he walked up behind Nami and Luffy, rubbing his eyes at the same time. "There's an island up ahead. I wonder if they have any meat?" Luffy said, absent mindedly rubbing his stomach at the thought of having some good food.

"Uh, guys it looks like there's a pirate frigate docked at the island, and I can see smoke coming from somewhere on the island." Usopp called down, causing the other three teens to take a closer look at the island. "Eh, it looks like the island is under attack by the pirates. What do you want to do caption?" Zoro said, somewhat sarcastically saying the caption part, while looking at Luffy.

"Hm…lets go check out what's going on!" Luffy yelled, a huge smile on his face. "Are you insane? That pirate ship could be carrying hundreds of pirates, and we don't even know who they are!" Nami yelled, shocked that Luffy would want to charge right into an island that was under attack by a large group of pirates. The only reply Nami got from Luffy was said straw hat wearing teen to give her a huge grin.

So much for avoiding the pirates…

0-0-0

"Hey, that's a pretty big pirate ship. I wonder if we'll have one like that some day?" Luffy said as he looked up at the ship from his spot on the beach. As Luffy stared up at the pirate ship, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp were all standing behind Luffy, double checking to see if anyone was going to suddenly attack. As Zoro kept a hand on the white katana, Usopp had reached into the pouch/bag on his hip and pulled out what looked to be a slingshot.

"Hey Luffy, are you sure it's a good idea to be on this island?" Nami asked as she watched Luffy begin to walk towards the smoke rising up over the trees. "Y-yeah, I mean, if there are a lot of pirates here, we may not be able to handle them all." Usopp added, trying to hide the fact that his legs were shaking. "Ah, we'll be fine. Now, lets see if we can find some place to get some meat." Luffy said, completely ignoring the fact the island was under attack.

"Keep quit. It looks like there's something up ahead." Zoro hissed, causing the other three teens to stop talking. As the four teens started to creep closer, they could finally see what was happening. Up ahead, the group could see a large gathering of, what they assumed to be, pirates. They could only assume it was the pirates, because every "pirate" they saw, was dressed like a ninja; complete with mask, throwing stars, and short swords.

Looking closer, Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp could see that another large group of people, most likely the people that lived on the island, had been gather up into a large group, and tied up. Also, tied to a large poll in the ground, the group of four could make out another figure, clearly male.

The person was, as before stated, was clearly a male, appearing to be around the age of 23. The man had long white hair coming down to the middle of his back, and aquamarine eyes. The man was wearing a pair of black pants, a matching black muscle shirt, and a long black jacket that fell down to his ankles. From what they could see, the white haired man seemed to stand at about 6'4. Also, on his head was a black "Jack Sparrow" style hat.

Standing in front of the white haired man, there was a much older man, most likely the caption of the ninja/pirate group. The older man looked to be about 41, with short gray hair barley visible from the facemask he wore. Unlike all the other ninja's around, this man wore a red vest. Also, two katana's hung from his waist, rather then a short sword.

"So tell me, why did you attack my men?" The older man spoke up, glaring at the white haired man. "Did you really think you could defeat the great captain Zen's ninja pirates?" The older man, Zen continued. The white haired man gave a small laugh, before giving a reply. "Well…your men are really a pain in the ass. Plus, they just pissed me off when they started burring houses down."

The answer seemed to tick off the pirate captain, because he drew one of his katana's and held it under the white haired man's neck. "Care to tell me your name before you die?" The captain said with a slight smirk on his face, ready to thrust his blade into the white haired man's neck. "My name? It's Riku Kenpachi." The white haired man, Riku said.

"Captain, intruders!" One of the ninja's yelled as he threw a ninja star at the group of bushes that Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp were hiding in. As the blade flew towards the four teens, Zoro quickly drew his white katana, slashing the throwing star and knocking it off cores. "State your reason for being here, and your names, or you won't live to see tomorrow." Zen spoke up, as several of the nameless ninja's surrounded Luffy and his friends.

"I'm Luffy D. Monkey. We stopped here to see if we could find some place to eat." Luffy said, not bothered at all by all the ninja's surrounding him and his friends. "But, I can't let you execute that man." Luffy continued, suddenly becoming very serous. That last statement caused most of the ninja/pirates to laugh a little, before captain Zen spoke up again. "And how are you going to stop us, straw hat?"

Luffy then broke out into a huge grin, as Zoro also started to smirk. Placing the white katana in his mouth, blade facing his left side, Zoro then drew his other two blades, holding one in each hand. As several ninja's charged at Zoro, he held all three blades ready.

"Oni-Giri." Zoro said with a little difficulty, due to the fact a sword was in his mouth. As the ninja's came closer, Zoro lashed out with a lightning fast attack, swinging the swords in his hands in an "x" shape slash, while moving his head slightly so the blade in his mouth would slash the ninja's at shoulder level.

As the ninja's that had lunged at Zoro fell back, at lest one slash on each of them, another group lunged at Luffy. As Luffy took off screaming, the ninja's followed him a little ways through the forest area they were in. However, as Luffy ran by a random tree, he grabbed onto it, and kept running. And his arm kept stretching…and stretching…and stretching. As the ninja's stopped and stared at Luffy's arm in shock, since it was now almost thirty feet long, Luffy turned around and smiled. "Just kidding. Gomu-Gomu no Rocket!"

As soon as that was out of his mouth, Luffy suddenly shot forwards, his arm pulling him back towards the group of ninja's chasing him. As Luffy slammed into the ninja's, they all went flying in different directions. "Men! That straw hat must have the power of a Devil's Fruit!" Zen yelled, seeing Luffy's arm return to its normal size.

"Yup, I ate the rubber fruit." Luffy said, grin still on his face. Hearing this, some of the ninja/pirates backed up a little, not knowing how to battle someone who had eaten a Devil's Fruit. "Alright men, keep your distance with the straw hat. Attack from long rang!" The ninja captain yelled out, causing most other ninja's to fall back a ways.

"Hey Usopp, think you can give us some cover?" Zoro asked the long nose friend. "Of course I can. Namari Boshi!" Usopp yelled as he pulled a handful of ball bearings out of his bag, and began launching them at several ninja's, hitting the ninja's in either the head or the chest. As soon as the ninja's were distracted by Usopp's attack, Zoro and Luffy rushed forwards, taking the fight close range.

"Hurry up and kill them!" The captain yelled, before turning back towards Riku, and finally thrusting his katana at the white haired man's chest. Only, Zen's smirk quickly turned into a shocked expression, when Riku's arms suddenly came from behind the poll he was tied to, tearing through the rope, and slammed each fist into the flat side of the katana, stopping it dead in its tracks.

"Gomu-Gomu no pistol!" Luffy yelled as he threw his right arm forwards in a punch, only to have it keep stretching, smashing into Zen's face while Luffy was still about twenty feet away. As the captain went flying, Riku dashed at a group of ninja's, delivering a powerful series of punches into the bulk of the ninjas. As Riku proceeded to beat the snot out of the ninjas he was attacking, Zoro ran forwards towards a larger group of ninjas, attacking with another Oni-Giri, causing a large number of ninjas to fall back, wounded.

As Usopp fired another ball bearing from his slingshot, a random nameless ninja had snuck up behind him and Nami. However, as the ninja lunged at the two teens, Nami noticed something wrong and turned around. Quickly reaching down into a small holster kept just under her skirt, Nami quickly pulled out what looked like three wooden sticks. However, in one quick moment, Nami had thrown one piece into the air, while slamming the other two onto the ends of the piece in the air, causing the three parts to connect into one long wooden staff.

Spinning the staff in one quick movement, Nami slammed said weapon into the ninja's head, stopping him dead in his tracks. Giving a small smile at the fact she had beaten a ninja/pirate, Nami turned back to see how the others were doing, but soon noticed that a group of about seven ninjas had surrounded both her and Usopp. "Hey guys, a little help here!" Nami yelled to Luffy and Zoro, knowing that she wouldn't be able to handle large numbers of people in battle by herself.

With Luffy currently attacking the ninja/pirate captain, and Zoro attacking the main bulk of the ninjas, Riku was the one who responded to Nami's call for help. Moving up behind the first ninja, Riku launched a devastating punch with his right hand, landing in the middle of the ninja's back. As the first ninja was sent to the ground, another turned around and lunged with his short sword at Riku. Steeping to the side, Riku let the sword go past him, before grabbing the ninja's arms with his left hand, while slamming his right fist into the ninja's face.

As the five other ninjas fell back a ways, Riku noticed that more ninjas had started coming from the beach, most likely from another ship that had just landed. It was clear that this was going to take a while…

0-0-0

"Gomu-Gomu no bazooka!" Luffy yelled as he threw both of his arms backwards, each stretching from about twenty feet, before shooting back towards Zen. As Luffy's hands hit Zen's chest open palmed, it sent the ninja/pirate flying off into the distance; where he would land, no one knew. As the captain went fly off to who knows where, the last of the nameless pirates were beaten, Zoro's sword landing the final blow. As Luffy and Zoro made their way back over to Nami and Usopp, Riku made his way over to the town's people, and started untying them.

"Hey white haired dude! That was some awesome fighting you did back there." Luffy said as he, after having made sure Usopp, Nami, and Zoro were uninjured, walked up behind Riku. "There is one thing I would like to know: do you guys have some place where I can eat some meat?"

0-0-0

After getting over the shock of being captured by pirates, and then being saved by five young adults/teens, the town's people had invited all five for a sort of "thank you for saving our lives" dinner. As the five young adults sat around a small table, they had started talking.

"Let me get this straight; the four of you are planning to go to the Grand Line, all alone?" Riku asked, not believing what he was hearing. "Don't be silly! We still need a musician; plus there are five of us counting you." Luffy said, before finishing his 12th plate of food. "Hold on a second! Who said I was coming with you?" Riku asked in a middle state of shock as he stared at Luffy.

"Yup, I've decided that I want you in my pirate crew." Luffy said, acting like it was an everyday thing, as he placed another helping of food on his plate. "It's not really you chose if I join you pirate group…" Riku muttered under his breath as he watched Luffy start shoveling food into his mouth. "Take it from us, once Luffy decides that you should be in his pirate group, he'll stop at nothing to make sure you join him." Nami said, motioning to Zoro and herself, shaking her head slightly.

After thinking things through for a couple minutes, Riku's eyes light up when an idea struck him. "Hey Luffy, how about this: You and I have a sparing match; if you win I join you pirate crew, if I win you drop the subject of me becoming a pirate?" Riku said, a slight smile on his face. After swallowing the huge amount of food in his mouth, Luffy's face broke into a grin. "Alright, it's a deal. But I'm warning you, I won't lose."

0-0-0

"Right, so you two fight like you normally would. First one to either pass out, or give up is the loser." Nami said as she looked between Riku and Luffy, as the two stared each other down from across the small clearing they were in. As Luffy cracked his knuckles, Riku stretched his neck out a little, making sure everything was good to go. "Alright, on your make, get set, go beat each other senseless!" Nami yelled, signaling Riku and Luffy to start the fight.

"Gomu-Gomu no Pistol!" Luffy yelled as he threw his right arm towards Riku, it stretching out to hit him from a distance. As the fist came zooming towards him, Riku simple side steeped, letting the arm go flying past him. However, once the arm flew past him, it grabbed onto a near by tree, holding firmly. "And Gomu-Gomu no rocket!" Luffy yelled as he used his out stretched arm to pull himself towards Riku at a high rate of speed.

Despite the fact that Luffy was flying towards him at a high rate of speed, all Riku did in response to Luffy's attack was cross his arms in front of his chest. "Got 'ya!" Luffy yelled before crashing into Riku. However, unlike before, Riku didn't go flying backwards. In fact, all Riku did was slide back about three feet, before coming to a complete stop once again. Also, Luffy found that his face was now really sore.

As Luffy fell back a little ways to recover from his attack, he noticed something about Riku; he hadn't reacted to the attack at all. In fact, from what Luffy could tell, the attack hadn't hurt Riku at all. "Your not the only person to ever eat a Devil's Fruit you know. There are fighting styles that can combat the power of a Devil's Fruit, when used the right way. And if someone has also eaten a Devil's Fruit, then those styles work even better." Riku said with a slight smirk.

Hearing what Riku had just said, Luffy broke into an even bigger grin. "It looks like this will be harder then I thought. Oh well; Gomu-Gomu no bazooka!" Luffy yelled as he threw both hands backwards, before thrusting them at Riku. However, as the attack came flying towards Riku, said white haired man raised both of his hands, giving Luffy a blank stare as the attack came zooming towards him.

As soon as Luffy's hands hit Riku's, Riku quickly closed his hands in a tight grip, catching Luffy's hands in it. However, instead of trying to crush Luffy's hands, he quickly yanked on Luffy's arms in stead, causing the straw hat wearing pirate to come flying towards him. As Luffy came flying closer, Riku dropped Luffy's arms, and raised both of his own up over his head. Then, when Luffy was right in front of him, Riku brought both hands down on Luffy's head, slamming him into the ground.

As Luffy rolled to the side to put some distance between him and Riku, he slowly made his way back to his feet. "Gomu-Gomu no whip!" Luffy screamed as he thrust his right leg out to the side, causing it to stretch out, before quickly spinning in the opposite direction, causing it to go flying at Riku. However, Riku once again caught the attack with his ice arms, before spinning around, bringing Luffy's leg up over his head, and snapping it down at the ground, bringing Luffy with it.

"He really should have seen that coming…" Nami said, as she, Zoro, and Usopp winced when Luffy slammed into the ground. As Luffy stood back up, moving very slowly, he slowly raised his fists for another attack. "Gomu-Gomu no gattling gun!" Luffy yelled as he began rapidly launching quick punches at Riku, moving so fast it gave the illusion that he had multiple arms. As the fists started pounding into Riku, said white haired man noticed that, while the fists were moving at a very high speed, they were rather weak compared to an attack like the Gomu-Gomu no pistol.

After a minute of the rapid punch attack hitting him, Riku finally grew tired of the attack, and, after a couple failed attempts, was able to catch one of Luffy's arms in his left hand. "Not again!" Luffy yelled as Riku quickly yanked on his arm, causing the straw hat pirate to come flying at Riku once again. "Deep impact." Riku said in a calm voice when Luffy was right in front of him. Taking his right arm, Riku smashed it into Luffy's face, hitting with such a force that it caused Luffy's neck to stretch out about ten feet, before his body was pulled along to catch up.

Riku gave a slight sight when Luffy crashed into a tree, before sinking to the ground. As Riku walked over to Luffy, he made sure that his hate was still in place, before finally going to check on the younger male. As Riku got closer to Luffy, he noticed that the younger teen was starting to stir a little bit. "Did I win?" Luffy asked in a drowsy voice, still recovering from being hit so hard in the head.

Riku took a deep breath, before answering Luffy's question with a slight smirk on his face. "Yeah, you won. Right before I hit you, you somehow managed to kick me in the head. It knocked me out cold." Riku said, trying to hold back a laugh. Hearing what Riku said, Nami, Usopp, and Zoro exchanged looks, but didn't say anything when Luffy jumped up off the ground. "Yahoo! That means that your now part of my pirate crew. Alright, we got another member to our crew; next stop Grand Line!"

END

Ug, I don't really like how this turned out, being I had to make everything up to find a way from Riku to meet Luffy and co. but it will have to do. Now that this is done, I can start writing chapters on the main storyline, such as the Sanji introduction arc, which will be next. Note: I didn't say what Devil's Fruit Riku had eaten, that way it can be a surprize in the big fight coming up...


	2. Chapter 2

The path of twilight

Chapter 2

Zoro-Aniki? Run in with the pirate hunting duo!

(Just a small note: I'm using the original Japanese names for the One Piece character's attacks, but since I don't know much, if any Japanese my self, Riku's attacks will be in English. So to avoid confusion of what the names mean, I will put a translation of what any Japanese (or in some cases French/Spanish/whatever else) names mean.

Small note #2: It has occurred to me, (and don't ask why it took so long) that some people might start reading this story without much if any knowledge of the One Piece world. So I'll try and explain what everyone learned in the first 20-some episodes I skipped.

* * *

Giving a loud grunt as he moved the heavy box up the last couple steeps, Luffy practically dropped the large box he had just brought up from the lower deck. Hearing the box hit the deck, Nami looked up from the magazine she had been reading, and gave Luffy a puzzled look. "If we're going to be well known pirates, we're going to need our own pirate flag!" Luffy said as he dug into the box, which was filled with paint, as well as other random items.

Laying a small flag down on the deck, Luffy grabbed three cans of paint, and a brush. As Luffy began painting some symbol onto the flag, Nami, Usopp, and Riku watched with mild interest, while Zoro simply continued with his nap. After several minutes of a rather messy paint job, Luffy held up the small flag with a grin. "Behold, our pirate symbol!"

To say that Luffy was a very bad artist would be putting it mildly. While he had gotten the top half of the skull and crossbones right, while at the same time adding a straw hat, like the one he wore, to the top half, the lower half was a total mess. The jaw was sitting at a 45 degree angel, with several teeth missing. Upon seeing Luffy's horrible attempt at making a pirate symbol, Usopp spoke up. "Why don't you let me give this a try?" Usopp said as he walked over towards Luffy and took the paintbrush from him.

As Usopp started his own attempt at a pirate flag, Luffy made his way to the front of the ship, taking a seat on the railing at the very front. As Usopp continued to paint the small flag, Nami went back to her magazine, while Riku simply leaned against the railing on the side of the ship, while closing his eyes.

"Now this is a real pirate symbol!" Usopp said after several minutes, holding up the flag for the others to see. The symbol Usopp had painted on the flag followed the basic idea of what Luffy's had been, a classic skull and crossbones, with a straw hat on top of the skull's head. The only difference was that Usopp's symbol had been painted better. "Alright Usopp! Now, paint that on our sail!" Luffy shouted, jumping up from his seat and running past Usopp, heading to the stairs that lead to the lower levels.

"Wait, how am I suppose to paint this on the sails while were moving?" Usopp yelled back, but Luffy had already despaired down into the lower levels of the ship. Letting out a long sigh, Usopp grabbed the paintbrush again, and looked up at the sail. "Well, here goes nothing…"

* * *

Twenty minutes later, Usopp was lying on the deck, covered in paint and breathing hard. The sail, which had once been a simple back sail, now bore the same straw hat wearing skull and crossbones that the smaller flag did. About that time, Luffy came back up the stairs, holding an even larger box then before. Dropping the box on the deck, Luffy let out a sigh of relief, not caring that the box caused the whole ship to shake when it hit the deck. 

"All right, we have our pirate symbol, now we need to practice using the cannons we have!" Luffy yelled as he opened the box, reveling it to be full of cannonballs. As Luffy began dragging the box of cannonballs over to one of the side-mounted cannons, Usopp managed to pull himself to his feet, following Luffy. "Well, while you two do that, I'm going to see what I can fix for lunch. Try not to get an arm blown off while I'm gone." Nami said as she pushed herself off the chair she was sitting on, and walked towards the kitchen.

* * *

_I find myself in the company of some rather strange people now. A group of four people calling themselves pirates. While a mere four people may not sound that threatening, from what I've learned, they have already defeated several large, and considerably more famous pirate groups. And what I find even more intriguing is that at lest two of the members want to accomplish what most of deemed impossible. _

_One of the more entertaining members of the crew would have to be Usopp, a long-nosed, chronic liar. Despite lacking raw physical strength, Usopp has an amazingly high skill when it comes to shooting projectiles out of his slingshot. I've also heard that he can run incredibly fast to get out of trouble. However, he needs to work on his courage a little bit._

_The ship's navigator, Nami, is one of the more secretive members of the crew. Although, that could simply be because she is the only female on the ship at this time. She has shown that she has a large amount of skill in navigation, unlike any other crewmember on the ship at this time. She is also fairly handy with her wooden staff in a fight. (She seems to favor hiding the three parts of the staff under her clothing, and then using a surprise attack on people.)_

_Zoro Ronronoa is, without a doubt, one of the strongest willed people I have ever met. Zoro fights with a three-sword style, called Santoryu, where he holds one katana in each hand, and another in his mouth. His dream is to be the strongest swordsman in the world, so it's a good thing he has such a strong will. And, from what I've been told by the others, Zoro has super-human speed and strength, coming from years of intense training._

_Luffy D. Monkey is the strangest man I've ever met in my life. At first glance, he looks like an average kid without much of a brain. But after being around him a while…I've begun to doubt that he has a brain at all. Despite his lack of mental power, his physical strength is off the charts. Combine his strength with the fact he ate a Devil's Fruit, and he can be a really powerful friend, or if your unlucky, a powerful enemy. His dream is to be the next Pirate King, and I've almost begun to believe that it might happen._

_Devil's Fruit, some times called a Cursed Fruit by several people, is one of the most interesting aspects of this world. At first glace they look like a normal fruit, but nothing could be farther from the truth. After a person eats a Devil's Fruit, they gain a trait that can only be described as "superhuman." (Such as after eating a Devil's Fruit, Luffy's entire body became rubber, allowing him to stretch body parts.) However, like all superhuman powers, there is a cost for the power of the Devil's Fruit. One weakness that all people that have eaten a Devil's Fruit is that they become dead weight in water; in other words if they fall into water they cannot move or use their power. Other then water, each power generally has it's own unique weakness. (Like, while Luffy can simply bounce bullets and cannonballs back out of his body, sharp objects still cut him.)_

* * *

The loud boom of a cannon going off caused Riku to look up from the small book he had been writing in a moment before. Taking a glance over at Luffy and Usopp, Riku noticed that the two had started firing a cannon at a small island that looked more like a giant rock pillar then an island. Shaking his head slightly, Riku turned back to the book in his hands.

* * *

_The ship that Luffy and his crew acquired is quit a remarkable sight. It is a fairly small caravel class ship. From what I gathered, this was a gift from a hometown friend of Usopp's, and was apparently designed by one of the friend's caretakers. The figurehead at the front of the ship is that of a sheep, which I'm told had something to do with the person that designed the ship. As far as firepower goes, the ship is somewhat lacking, having only four cannons, one in front, one on each side, and one in the back. Other then that, the ship does not seem to have any out of the ordinary features, other then the name itself: The Going Merry._

_I am writing this as a historical reference to the technology, people, government, and unique characteristics of this world, since, from what I can tell, there has never been a Gummi path opened to this world._

-Riku D. Kenpachi

* * *

Hearing another blast from the cannon, Riku looked up to see Usopp and Luffy doing some sort of victory dance. "All right! Usopp from now on you're the ship's gunner!" Luffy said as he did his "dance." "I thought I was the captain?" Usopp said, stopping to look at Luffy. "No, I'm the captain!" Luffy yelled back in response. Closing the book he was holding, Riku quickly stood and began to make his way towards the kitchen area, not wanting to get into the middle of the fight over who was captain. 

Walking into the kitchen, Riku spotted Nami standing over by the stove. Riku's eyes then drifted to what was on the stovetop: A large pan of fired rice, and some seasoned meat. Hearing the door open and close, Nami turned to see who had entered the kitchen area. "Hm? Oh, good timing, I just finished fixing lunch." Nami said as she turned the burners off, and moved the two pans of food over to the table, setting them on a metal rack in the middle of the table.

Luffy, somehow knowing that the food was ready burst through the door of the kitchen, nearly running Riku over on his way to get to the table. "Luffy! You'd better not eat all the food again!" Usopp yelled as he burst through the door behind Luffy. However, by the time Usopp had sat down at the table, Luffy had already started shoving food into his mouth, not even bothering to put food onto his plate, but simply take it straight from the pans.

Letting out a sigh of frustration, Nami grabbed an empty pan off the shelf behind her, and quickly smashed it down on Luffy's head. "YOU MORON! How is everyone else going to have lunch when you eat everything?" Nami screamed as Luffy rubbed his head, which now had a large bump on it. About that time Zoro came through the door, taking a seat across the table from Luffy.

While Luffy was still slightly out of it from getting hit by Nami, everyone else took the chance to get as much food as they could manage before Luffy started eating everything again. And it was a good thing they did, because once Luffy could see straight again, he started shoving food into his mouth again, straight from the pan again. As Luffy continued to stuff his face, the other four people in the kitchen also tried to finish their meal before Luffy started grabbing food off their plates again.

* * *

_The "Grand Line" that we are sailing to is a very interesting place, or so I hear. In this world, there are five oceans; North Blue, South Blue, West Blue, and East blue. In the four before mentioned oceans, there is a very small amount of landmass, having islands scattered across the world. Somewhere close to North Blue, there is a large strip of land, called the Red Line. Flowing along near by is what they call the Grand Line; a current that flows east and west, and runs perpendicular to the Red Line. Many people often consider it its own ocean._

_The reason so many pirates want to go to the Grand Line is because of what was said twenty years ago. A man named Gold Rogers conquered the Grand Line, becoming known as the Pirate King. Somehow, the Marines captured Gold Roger, and he was executed. However, before he died, interestingly enough with a smile on his face, Gold Roger said that he left all his treasure in "that place." This sparked what has come to be known as the "great pirate age," since millions of pirates have gone to Grand Line to find the treasure and become the next Pirate King._

_However, because of the sheer numbers of powerful pirates going to the Grand Line, it has become a war zone in some areas. Because of the massive amount of fighting that goes on there, the Grand Line has gained the nickname "pirate graveyard." While pirates are a major force in Grand Line, they are almost all fighting each other, as well as the Marines. While most groups in Grand Line are completely disorderly, there are three known main powers present in Grand Line: The Marines, the Shichibukia (seven military seas), and the Yonkou. (Four emperors.)_

_From what I've learned, the Shichibukia is a group of seven former pirates. In exchange for the World Government dropping the bounties on their heads, each member of the Shichibukia gives 15 of their treasure to the government, as well as only raiding other pirates. Their main job is to scare people so they won't become pirates, but don't think that their all talk. The Shichibukia are all highly trained in the art of combat, a few may even have the power of a Devil's Fruit._

_The Yonkou are considered to be the four strongest pirates alive today. Each resides in the second half of Grand Line, known as the New World. The New World has not been fully explored by anyone other then Gold Roger, so what lies back there is unknown. I have not yet learned of the identity of any of the Yonkou members, but I have heard that they are so powerful that it has taken a combined effort of the Marines and the Shichibukia to keep the four Yonkou from meeting, and possibly uniting._

* * *

Taking a deep breath, Riku closed the book he had started writing in again. Take a glance around the kitchen; he heard a voice cut through the air. "Hey pirates!" The voice was clearly male, and was followed by the sound of something being smashed from out on the deck. All five crewmembers stood up in almost perfect synchronization, moving towards that door to see what the heck was going on. 

Standing out on the deck was a man that must have been in his early twenties. He had dark black hair, and was wearing a pair of wide rimed sunglasses. On the left side of his face, there was a black tattoo that was some form of Japanese Kanji. As far as wardrobe went, the man was dressed in a long blue trench coat, black shirt, gray pants, and black combat boots. In his right hand was a black scimitar, with a simple black hilt and blade.

"Oi, what do you want on my ship?" Luffy asked as he steeped out onto the deck, looking at the man down below. "You…you pirate scum!" The man yelled as he lunged at Luffy, swinging his scimitar in a wide arc, which Luffy simply side steeped. "You think that some no name pirate like you can try and kill my partner?" The man screamed out as he swung his blade at Luffy again in a blind strike. As Luffy jumped over the man, the scimitar crashed into the railing on the side of the ship, cutting it to pieces.

"Oi! I don't know who you are, but stop breaking my ship!" Luffy yelled as he threw his arms backwards, causing them to stretch out and grab the scimitar wielding man by both shoulders. Whipping both arms over his head, Luffy proceeded to smash the man into the deck of the Going Merry, causing the black scimitar to go skidding across the deck, away from the man that had been wielding it.

"Luffy, if you go slamming people into the ship like this, you're going to cause more damage then he was." Nami said with a sigh, as she looked at the cracks in the deck that had been caused by Luffy's attack. As Nami, Usopp, Riku, and Zoro steeped out onto the deck, Zoro looked down at the man who had attacked the Going Merry. "Oi, aren't you Johnny?" Zoro said, still looking at the man down on the deck.

"Zoro-Aniki?" (Aniki is Japanese for big brother.) The man asked as he stared up at Zoro from his position on the deck.

* * *

"So you used to travel with this guy?" Usopp said, as he looked between Zoro and Johnny. "Yeah, I traveled with Johnny and another bounty hunter named Yasuke a couple years ago." Zoro said, leaning against the ship's railing. "That's right," Johnny said from his position near the mast of the ship, "I had no idea that Zoro-Aniki had become a pirate though." 

"So what are you doing all the way out here?" Riku asked, having seen that Johnny had used a rather small boat to get to the Going Merry. "Its horrible," Johnny yelled, suddenly becoming very emotional, on the verge of crying. "Yasuke and me were heading to an island where we heard that we could get a few bounties, when Yasuke just collapsed. He started turning green, and then a few of is teeth fell out and his gums started bleeding! I had put us down on this small stone island not far from here, when I saw a pirate ship was shooting at us!" Upon hearing the last part of Johnny's story, all eyes turned towards Luffy and Usopp, whose jaws had practically fallen to the floor. (In Luffy's case, it literally had.)

"I could take a look at Yasuke if you want; I know a little about medicine." Nami said after several moments of staring at Luffy and Usopp. Giving a quick nod, Johnny ran over to the side of the ship he had attached the small raft to, where he found the other man, Yasuke. The man was around the same age as Johnny. He had light gray hair that was cut very short, and was wearing a green long jacket, tan t-shirt, black pants, black boots, and a red helmet with no top on it.

"I think I know what the problem is," Nami said after looking at Yasuke for roughly thirty seconds. "Luffy, Usopp, there are some limes in storage, right? Bring them to me." Nami said, the two before mentioned pirates were still standing in a state of shocking after hearing they had almost bombed a person by mistake. "Are you listening to me? Go get them!" Nami yelled after a minute, seeing that Luffy and Usopp weren't moving.

Hearing Nami yell at them, the two …er, "culprits" ran off to the storage, shoving each other as they went to try and get there first. Giving a slight sigh, Nami turned back to Johnny and Zoro who were waiting for an explanation. "He's got scurvy. In the past it was an incurable pelage that sailors would get while at sea, but it's really just caused by a lack of vitamin C. He should be fine in a couple days, just as long as he takes it easy for a while."

After Nami finished her explanation, all eyes turned back to Yasuke, who now had Luffy and Usopp knelling over him, squeezing limes to force the juice into Yasuke's mouth. "Oi Nami, your just like a doctor!" Luffy yelled, completely in awe of his friend's medical knowledge. "YOU SHOULD HAVE A LEST KNOWN WHAT IT WAS SINCE IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU SOONER OR LATER!" Nami screamed, here face becoming incredibly scary.

* * *

"All right, let this be a lesson to all of you: this type of thing can happen to anyone on long trips at sea." Nami said as she stared down at her logbook, as she, Luffy, Zoro, Usopp, Johnny, and Riku stat and/or stood around in the kitchen area. "And it really doesn't help that there isn't much room to store food on this ship," Riku added from his position over against wall by the stove. 

"You know, we should really think about getting someone who knows about this dietary business," Nami said as she ran a hand through her hair. Luffy, after finishing the piece of bread he had been eating quickly stood up a moment later. "Yosh! I got an idea: we need a sea cook! That way we'd have all sorts of delicious meat to eat, and we wouldn't have to worry about not getting the right foods!"

"You know, if your looking for a good place to find a cook, I know a place," Johnny said as he walked towards the center of the room. "But I have to warn you, it's close to the Grand Line, and the man Aniki has been looking for, Hawk-Eyes, could be around there." Hearing this, Zoro's hand instinctively dropped to his white-sheathed katana, a slight smirk forming over his face.

"That's a good thing if it's by the Grand Line, we were heading there anyway," Luffy said with a slight laugh. "Well if you still want to go, then you should turn the ship in a heading of North-Northeast. Our destination is the floating restraint: Baratie!" Johnny said after a moment, causing Luffy's smile to grow larger.

END CHAPTER

Eh, it's shorter then I would like, but it will have to do for now. Anyway, I've been really bogged down with school, and my part-time job, so updates are going to be really slow.


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